Official How-To thread!

Instead of sending our memers away to other forums to read up on how to customize i think this should be an information pool feel free to dump links excerpts and your own personal advice/guidance in here ill update as well with a couple step by steps and pics of different processes

Can i set it off?i have a question for the How-To forum....How do you sew a shoe back together?
i took one apart to practice with different fabrics. i didn't remove everything completely from the sole, but i took apart all of the removable parts/panels.
1. when attempting to re-assemble, do you use a sewing machine?
or...
do you sew together by hand and just push the needle through the holes that already exist?
2. if you do remove EVERYTHING from the sole, do you re-sew all of the components together 1st, and then attach the upper to the sole?

ive seen people put material onto a shoe and then say they 'stitched it it back onto the shoe' can some one explain this to me? how wud you do this by hand... seems it wud be killer to hand sew threw fabric and leather???

ive seen people put material onto a shoe and then say they 'stitched it it back onto the shoe' can some one explain this to me? how wud you do this by hand... seems it wud be killer to hand sew threw fabric and leather???

what ive seen done is lining up the original leathers stitch holes with the new fabric which gives youpretty much a template for the sewing and its easier because the holes are alreadythere now ive also seen people use really big needles i.e. mattress needles which curve so you can use them from the inside of the shoe and are pretty thick so theres less tension onthe needle and your easily punctured fingers

ive seen people put material onto a shoe and then say they 'stitched it it back onto the shoe' can some one explain this to me? how wud you do this by hand... seems it wud be killer to hand sew threw fabric and leather???

Most use a special sewing machine, that would cost around $900-$2000, so if you wanna dish out that much just to do a custom then by all means do you, but if you are a serious customizers it's an good investment to get. As for others yes they claim to do it by hand I'm not sure how true this is or not so I can talk about it any further.Also there is the Illusion that it's stiched on, you make a template of the area you want to put fabric on and cut of the same exact size of that area and cut the fabric into that shape. Then get a sewing machine any regular 79.99 one at wal mart or something should do,(depending on the thickness of your fabric) and just sew around the edges and glue it back onto the shoe and bam if you did a clean enough Job it looks like you stiched it on by hand.

i have a question for the How-To forum....How do you sew a shoe back together?
i took one apart to practice with different fabrics. i didn't remove everything completely from the sole, but i took apart all of the removable parts/panels.
1. when attempting to re-assemble, do you use a sewing machine?
or...
do you sew together by hand and just push the needle through the holes that already exist?
2. if you do remove EVERYTHING from the sole, do you re-sew all of the components together 1st, and then attach the upper to the sole?

I could go into major detail with #2 but I think this is something you need to lear on your own. Not to be mean but its pretty fun(nerd customizer ) to take the shoe apart and figure out how its done, I have taken apart well ove 10 pairs of serious beaters to figure things out.

As for putting the shoe back together use a sewing machine like I said will cost from $900-$2000.

i was wonderin if there is any problem using acyrlic paint do you have to use some kind of solution afterwards or wat?

No problems, some acrylics cant be used, so give me an brand that you want to use and I'll tell you what you need to do.

the tongues on most sneakers are sewn in so essentially its fairly simple to do a tongue swap simply and carefully cut the thread that holds the tongue to the toebox or the rest of the upper of the shoe and resew on the new shoe

how can i stuff a tongue with nothing to stuff? like a puma brasil or a chuck?

i hop eyou know how to sew what youll have to do is cut a backing to match the front of the tongue and sew it cleanly to the front of the tongue from there just stuff it anf sew it closed down at the bottom

hey i just bought a beat pair of bisons and am trying to restore the life in them. more specifically i want to restore the red toe part. i've already tried using suede cleaner and i even used baby oil to bring some life back to the red suede but they aren't the vibrant red that im looking for. i've heard about people using suede dye but not sure where to find this or what brand to use exactly. any help would be appreciated.

Custom Skateboard DecksDoes anybody know what kind of paint is used to paint custom skateboard decks?... or at least any info about the custom process itself for decks (example: what kind of finish they use, any prepping instructions, etc)... please reply or PM me... or email @ [email]RL.Damian@gmail.com[/email]... be sure to subject the email accordingly... thanks in advance for your help

as far as hand stitching shoes back together...it can be done with a sewing awl.
the technique is pretty simple but its VERY tedious to do and often not really worth it. I generally only usi it for things like swooshes and tongues but you CAN use it on an entire shoe....even as far as re-attaching the upper to the midsole etc.

hey i just bought some red suede dye from angelus and before i dyed my bisons i tested it on an old pair of suede reeboks to see how the red turns out. the finished product turned out to be more maroon than red. anyone know where i can get that vibrant red color found on the bisons?

what kind of paints should i use on a shoe...like i need a type im quessing acrylic (Spelling) and also what brand is best. also i heard you need a finisher...were could i find a good finisher? any good brand names?

aight so im deglazing a pair of vandals and i get to the swoosh and realize that the paint is dissintegrating like the rest fo the shoe. instead its kinda peeling off. it kinda looks like a thin layer of latex or somehting. should i not be taking that off and paint of it instead? if so, what do i do now that most of it is peeled off?